1. Overview

This section will show you that a system of law given to the early Israelites was thousands of years ahead of its time.

Compared with the practices of other nations at the time, the Bible’s advice on community health was remarkable. It wasn’t until the nineteenth century that most European countries discovered and adopted ideas found in this law which was given thousands of years earlier.

There are parts of this civil law which are even ahead of our time. We shall look at some recommendations which would reduce the problems we have in our world at the moment.

 

The idea of preventing disease is a relatively recent one. This is shown by the fact that the very first Medical Officer of Health in Britain was appointed in Liverpool in 1847. Community health is now taken very seriously. But the law of Moses was concerned with community health 3,500 years ago.

Community medicine is concerned, amongst other things, with guidance on the food we eat, disposal of waste and control of disease. We shall see how, in all three areas, the Bible is not only accurate but far ahead of its time.

A typical modern Community Health Centre